The Interior Department on Wednesday announced it has granted BP its first deepwater drilling permit since last year’s oil spill.

The permit awarded by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is for an exploratory well in the Keathley Canyon map area, located about 246 miles south of Lafayette, La.

The granting of the permit is the latest sign that the British oil giant is climbing back from the political abyss. The embattled company’s political action committee is almost on pace to match what it donated at the federal level during the 2008 presidential election cycle. Between March and August, BP’s PAC made more than $50,000 in federal-level campaign contributions, ranking it among the cycle’s more generous donors.

Interior last week approved BP’s Gulf of Mexico exploration plan; the permitted well was one of those included in that plan.

“BP has met all of the enhanced safety requirements that we have implemented and applied consistently over the past year,” BSEE Director Michael Bromwich said in a statement. “In addition, BP has adhered to voluntary standards that go beyond the agency’s regulatory requirements.”

The well would be in waters 6,034 feet deep, which is deeper than the company’s doomed 5,000-foot Macondo well that ruptured and sparked a fire on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and led to the biggest spill in U.S. maritime history.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) blasted the decision to issue the permit before BP paid fines stemming from last year’s spill. “The fact that BP is getting a permit to drill without yet paying a single cent in fines is a disappointment, and does not serve as an effective lesson of deterrence for oil and gas companies,” Markey, the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 12:38 p.m. on October 26, 2011.